Chapter 204：The Apology (2)

Xu Jing's lips fell open and shock was apparent on his face. He expected to see his wife behind the door and definitely not his own mother.

"Mother... Why?" Xu Jing struggled to ask. If his mother had been inside the room the whole time, why wouldn't she just open the door?

Xu Jing leaned his body to the side and looked behind his mother. He caught Joann in their bedroom, sitting on the edge of the bed with her shoulders slumped. Her long hair fell over the face as she shook her head and gave out a long sigh but at least she didn't look like she had just cried. Xu Jing wanted to call out Joann's name to get her attention when the door slammed close in his face.

Xu Jing looked up and saw his mother has the doorknob in her hand. It was Mrs. Xu who closed the door.

Similar to before, Xu Jing blurted out asking, "Mother, why?"

"Why?!" Mrs. Xu repeated with incredulity. There was an emotion in her mother's tone that Xu Jing hadn't heard her use in his presence before. It sounded like disappointment and it stung. What Mrs. Xu said next only push the pain in deeper. "You know very well why."

"Mother, what have you heard?" Xu Jing tried to argue. Since his mother just walked out from his wife's room, it meant that they had been talking. Since Joann refused to converse with him, then Xu Jing could use his mother as a bridge to explain himself to his wife... that is if he could get his mother to see his perspective. "Mother, I swear it's just a mistake, a drunken mistake at that. Mother, I don't know what you've been told but I assure you it was blown out of proportion."

"Really?" Mrs. Xu asked. Xu Jing wanted to say, 'yes' but the way his mother phrased that question worried him. Xu Jing was clever to hold his tongue because Mrs. Xu continued to deliver this fatal blow, "Your daughter told me you had an extra-marital affair. Are you trying to tell me Sylvia has exaggerated? Or she was trying to frame you?"

Indeed, it was Sylvia who went to Mrs. Xu with the news. Her father's affair was nobody's business and was under a need-to-know basis but her grandmother was definitely one of the people who needed to know. After all, this was something that could rock the foundation of the Xu family to its core. As the eldest member of the household, Mrs. Xu had every right to know about something of this scale.

When Mrs. Xu first heard the news, her reaction was similar to Joann, it was one of utter disbelief. However, she came to the terms with it faster than Joann. She thanked Sylvia for talking to her, for including her in the conversation. After all, this was between her son and her daughter-in-law.

The first thing Mrs. Xu did after sending Sylvia away was to seek Joann out. This was before Xu Jing even got home. In other words, when Xu Jing was threatening to take the bedroom door down, Mrs. Xu was actually in the room conversing with Joann.

When Joann saw Mrs. Xu come to her, she assumed her mother-in-law was there to persuade her to forgive Xu Jing. It would be understandable for her to do so. After all, Xu Jing was her flesh and blood while Joann was the daughter who married into the family. Furthermore, Joann had always known that her mother-in-law had a soft spot for her husband.

Therefore, it was to Joann's surprise that the first word out of her mother-in-law's lips was, "Joann, I understand should you want a divorce. If that is your intention, you'll have my full support. Don't worry that you might not be able to get Xu Jing to sign the agreement, I will make him do it."

"But, mother, why would you..." Joann was too shocked to even finish her sentence. However, Mrs. Xu understood her perfectly well. Mrs. Xu sighed and answered, "Because like you, I'm also a wife and a woman."

Mrs. Xu didn't elaborate more than that but Joann got what she was trying to say. Mrs. Xu might love Xu Jing but she ultimately empathized better with Joann. As a woman, she understood the sting of betrayal and as a wife, she could imagine how painful it must be to suffer the ultimate betrayal.

When Joann helped the Xu family overcome the crisis related to Lin Corps' hostile take-over, the relationship between her and her mother-in-law had started to improve. Ironically, it was the betrayal of Xu Jing who ultimately brought these two crucial women in his life close together.

Mrs. Xu empathized with Joann enough to support her in whatever decision that she chose to make and Joann was thankful for her mother-in-law's understanding and support. She knew it wasn't easy for Mrs. Xu to do that, after all, she was required to go against the interest of her son.

...

"Mother, as I've said, it was a drunken mistake. I swear on my life that it'll never happen again. Can't we just put that behind us? Mother, please, I beg you, help me talk to Joann. I'm sure she'll listen to you." Xu Jing pleaded and begged, from how he saw it, his mother was one of the best ways to convince his wife to forgive him because he knew Joann still had some respect for his mother in spite of their rocky relationship.

"Just a mistake? Put it behind us?" Mrs. Xu shook her head before she branded Xu Jing with a look. "Xu Jing, ask yourself. Will you say the same thing if the table is turned and it was Joann who cheated on you?"

That stymied Xu Jing. He knew the answer well and it did not reflect positively on him. He definitely wouldn't get past Joann's betrayal, if ever... so what did that say of his own betrayal?